Splitting up with girlfriend - Advice Needed

davids1982

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can shed some light on this. Back in December 2013, I purchased a property with my girlfriend. She inherited some money so we put a fairly large deposit down (approx. 50%) so our mortgage monthly repayments are fairly low. As she contributed towards the deposit which was pretty much half of the purchase price, I offered to pay the mortgage which was only fair so I have been paying the monthly repayments for 44 months which is about 10% of the purchase price. We have now decided to go our separate ways but she doesn’t want to sell the house so she wants to re-mortgage the property in order to release some money to me.

We are now trying to work out how much I’m entitled to. As she does not want to sell the house, I believe I should get whatever I’ve paid towards the mortgage but as the property has gone up in value over the last few years I also believe that I’m entitled to 10% (percentage paid towards the property) of whatever profit we would make if we were selling the house. I don’t want to be unfair and I only want to get what I’m entitled to. Splitting up was a mutual decision so we don’t want any solicitors involved, we just want a fair/amicable agreement between us. We are still unsure about how we are going to handle this and we are looking to explore different options so not looking to discuss legal options/procedures. We just want to make sure that we are both financially protected. I am fully aware that things can change from amicable to hostile in a nanosecond but at the moment, we just want an initial idea of how much I should be entitled to.

Does the above make sense or is it unreasonable?

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Many thanks

David


PS This is the first time I've posted on this forum so apologies if I have done something wrong.

Brighty

As i see it, she bought half the house in cash, you bought half with a mortgage.

Therefore i think you should be entitled to half of whatever the house has increased by, plus whatever portion of the mortgage has been repaid. Why should she get 90% of the 'profit' and you only get 10% when you own the place 50/50?

So a fair payoff for you would be half the current value of the house minus the current outstanding mortgage. She will then need to get a mortgage large enough to pay off the current mortgage and pay you off.

ChopperST

How do you own the property?

http://www.which.co.uk/money/mortgages-and-property/first-time-buyers/guides/buying-a-home/tenants-in-common-vs-joint-tenancy

davids1982

We are tenants in common. We purchased the property in 2013 for £209,950 and the agreement was that she was going to put a £105k deposit down and I’d be responsible for the mortgage. She did ask to add a clause in the trust deed to protect her £105k deposit which I thought it was fair enough as it was money that she inherited but she hasn't contributed towards the mortgage since we've moved in.

lspell1

The way i see it, if you do really want to be fair:
You get 10% of the equity she keeps 50% of the equity. You then split the remaining 40% equity 50/50....seems reasonable to me.

ChopperST

That would seem a fair proposition in your scenario if you are wishing to be amicable.

Lokolo

lspell1 wrote: »

The way i see it, if you do really want to be fair:
You get 10% of the equity she keeps 50% of the equity. You then split the remaining 40% equity 50/50....seems reasonable to me.

Does this work? Excuse my maths -

Value Then: £210k
Value Now: £210k (no increase)

Person A (ex): 50% of equity + 50% of the final 40%. Total is 70%. £147k

Person B (OP): 10% of equity + 50% of the final 40%. Total is £63k.

OP has taken out a mortgage for £105k and is now in negative equity by £42k.

Or am I reading your post incorrectly?


I am in agreement with Brighty. She gets her £105k. OP gets £105k. Anything over this is split 50/50.

getmore4less

Your due half the value less the outstanding mortgage.

It's that simple unless you messed up the deed in some way.

Your payments are not relevant as they serviced the debt you used to buy your half.

getmore4less

lspell1 wrote: »

The way i see it, if you do really want to be fair:
You get 10% of the equity she keeps 50% of the equity. You then split the remaining 40% equity 50/50....seems reasonable to me.

Unbelievable 4 people thanked this seriously flawed algorithm.

silvercar

Initial mortgage payments do little more than cover interest.

It is an interesting quandry, somehow the fact that you have been paying the mortgage for 44 months needs to be taken into account eg if you had been paying the mortgage for only 4 months or 240 months the calculation should stand the scrutiny.

I suspect there would be a time when the mortgage payments exceed the equity in the house, exposing a flaw in your calculations.

----

Also, if the property had been bought in your ex's sole name, with her deposit and her you paying some rent/ keep/ contribution to household costs would that have left you with an entitlement to anything?

Lokolo

getmore4less wrote: »

Unbelievable 4 people thanked this seriously flawed algorithm.

It doesn't make any sense to me glad it's just not me!